My oldest sister, Sara, was 21 when our father died. She became the person who kept our family of eight standing, and she did it for over a decade. She never once made it sound like a sacrifice, and she never asked any of us for anything.

I am asking on her behalf now, because she would not.

Sara has spent her life building things for other people. In Gaza, she helped launch a women's center and rebuild a kindergarten damaged by conflict, and through Gaza Sky Geeks, she connected local entrepreneurs with mentors around the world. In 2018, the U.S. State Department selected her to represent Palestine in its Women in STEM Entrepreneurship program. In Japan, she built a company-wide diversity and inclusion program at Monstarlab from nothing.

She finished her MBA at MIT Sloan in May, on fellowships she earned, with job offers in hand. She could not accept them. Immigration rules left her without work authorization. She had an offer from MIT to continue her research, and she took it. In September, she begins her final degree, a one-year master's.

Here is where she stands now. Her visa bars her from working off campus and caps on-campus work at twenty hours a week. Her fellowships cover tuition and part of her housing. She financed her first year at MIT with a private loan, the only lender available to someone without a U.S. cosigner, and repayment begins in November at $994 a month. She asked for an extension and was denied. A friend covered her rent when she could not, and she is paying them back.

We are raising $25,000:

•⁠ ⁠Rent beyond what her fellowships cover, September through May: $7,200

•⁠ ⁠Living costs for the rest of August: $1,900

•⁠ ⁠Food, transit, books, and essentials for the year: $2,000

•⁠ ⁠Immigration attorney, to keep her status secure through graduation: $2,000

•⁠ ⁠Loan repayment, November through May: $7,000

•⁠ ⁠Repaying the friend who carried her rent: $5,000

Any amount helps. Sharing helps just as much.